Moments in Love
by Tsarina Torment
Summary: For SasuSaku Month 2014. A series of 100-word drabbles.
1. The Smell of Fresh Paint

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

The Smell of Fresh Paint

Sasuke stepped back from the wall, now a pale blue, and felt his lips twitch up into a smile. It was all ready now, he thought, surveying the room. Old toys, salvaged from the remains of his childhood, were stacked up in the corner, and the worn rocking chair donated by his mother-in-law was by the window, covered to keep it clean. The door opened behind him and he turned to put his arm around his wife, hand resting on her swollen belly. Sakura kissed his cheek, not caring that it was covered in wet paint.

"It looks wonderful, Sasuke-kun."


	2. Late

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Late

Sakura hurried across the rooftops. The sun had set hours ago, her path lit only by the moon overhead. She'd been held up, her duties at the hospital requiring her attention long into the evening, and now she risked missing dinner. Landing on her porch, gasping for breath, she fumbled with the door, willing it to open. It did, after a little bit of persuasion, and she raced to the kitchen. The light clicked on and she saw him, waiting for her with a simple bouquet of flowers in his hands. Sasuke wrapped his arms around her gently.

"Welcome home."


	3. Phobia

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Phobia

Sasuke glanced around warily, his heartbeat increasing rapidly as he realised there was no-one there. Memories made him panic. She was fine. She had to be. A second glance around preluded a search and he edged forwards cautiously, his hands on his weapons. There was the sound of whispering steel, followed by the sound of something falling to the ground. Something heavy. He rushed into the room, freezing at the sight of pink hair dyed red by the spreading pool of blood. His eyes jerked open and comforting arms surrounded him. Sakura smiled at him gently.

"It's okay; I'm here."


	4. There Was No Warning

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

There Was No Warning

Sakura smiled at her young patient in the way she was expected to do so as she fixed them up. It was nothing major – they'd fallen off of the swing at the academy and broken their arm. With the help of her medical ninjutsu, it would be fine in a week. Her shift over, she headed home, looking forwards to a relaxing bath and a warm dinner. What she was not expecting, although her reflexes enabled her to dodge, was the attack that came her way as she entered the house. Sasuke smirked before reaching for her again.

"Tickle fight."


	5. Keepsake

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Keepsake

Sasuke fingered the small metal band in almost reverence. It had belonged to his mother, all those years ago, and he had finally mustered up the courage to locate it in amongst all the possessions of his dead clan members, because he had a use for it. Closing his eyes briefly, he imagined it on the finger of his girlfriend and smiled. Yes, this was the right choice. He stood up straight, hiding the band in his hand as he waited. Sakura soon appeared next to him and her eyes widened as he got down on one knee.

"Marry me?"


	6. Night In

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Night In

Sakura smiled as she left the hospital. Her shift had ended early for once and that meant that she was walking home in the daylight, much to her surprise and enjoyment. Walking into her house, she kicked her boots off before lining them up neatly against the wall. They were the only shoes there, meaning that her husband was not yet home. He would be soon, though. He wasn't on a mission, just paperwork. She decided she would make dinner, just for a change. Sasuke walked in half an hour later to see her dishing up the food.

"Looks great."


	7. Night Out

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Night Out

Sasuke decided that, just for once, he wasn't going to cook dinner that evening. Instead, he called up a favourite place and informed them that there would be two people dining there later. Thinking back to the days when they could just turn up and know there would be space, he almost missed his wife walking in through the door. Sakura's look of surprise was a sight he savoured as he dragged her back out of the house almost immediately, heading towards a well-known, well-loved place where they were sure to meet friends.

"We haven't had ramen in a while."


	8. The Student Becomes The Teacher

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

The Student Becomes The Teacher

Sakura mused to herself as she collected her child from the academy. The children were so innocent. But that was a good thing, she decided as she saw her husband's eyes light up whenever he saw them, no matter how much he would deny it. They had taught their child as much as they dared of their world without taking away that pure flame inside them. Sasuke, in particular, was careful with their child as he protected them from everything he could. But a child is life's way of giving you a new teacher, too.

"You should smile more, Daddy."


	9. Bravery

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Bravery

Sasuke had spent much of his life firmly believing that kindness was a hindrance on the battlefield. It was a quality that belonged in the academy, or in the hearts of a civilian, but never where a split second's hesitation would make all the difference between life and death. But then he saw her with her pink hair, flitting from one injured to the next with her hands constantly bathed in a green glow. Sakura held no weapons, but she didn't need them as she deflected blows away from her patients with her bare hands, declaring promises.

"You'll be fine."


	10. Impulsive

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Impulsive

Sakura had a daring streak. For all her intelligence, she didn't always stop to analyse the situation, instead leaping in to help where she thought she was needed the most. This was a trait that often got her in trouble with her teammates, who for some reason still thought she needed protecting. She proved them wrong time and time again, but still they fought. Sasuke, in particular, was scolding of her self-sacrificing nature, which always made her heart leap at his obvious care. She gave up on analysis off of the battlefield and spilled her secret.

"I still love you."


	11. A Night With No Stars

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

A Night With No Stars

Sasuke didn't like nights like these. He was all alone, and the only light in the sky was the blood moon that reminded him all too vividly of that fateful night when his brother had been forced to kill their entire clan. In a way, he mused, that night's moon was like him. It was all alone in the sky, with no companions to speak of, relying on the light of others to shine. Sakura was his other, at least, he hoped that she still felt the same way after everything he'd done.

"I love you with all my heart."


	12. Silver Lining

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Silver Lining

Sakura considered lots of things to be bad. The war she was in, fighting against the creator of chakra herself where enemies became friends and friends became enemies was a prime example of this. Every waking moment she could hear the dying screams of those she had failed to save, and the despair of those still alive, but with nothing left. But if there was one good thing, it was that her team were reunited after all those years of dissonance. Sasuke had returned at last to fight alongside them with that determined face she knew so well.

"I'm back."


	13. Drowning

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Drowning

Sasuke had a tendency to surround himself with defences. Everyone he'd ever cared for was dead to him now, and he didn't want to care for anyone, otherwise they'd die to. But the silence and emptiness around him was suffocating. There were times when he tried to save himself from it, when he tried to open up to people. But he failed. He always failed. There was one girl who persisted, though, and he drove her away viciously every time. Sakura never gave up, and eventually he had to surrender to her wishes, although he did so willingly.

"Thank you."


	14. His Side of the Story

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

His Side of the Story

Sakura understood him more than anyone else realised. She knew that when he walked away, he was doing it because he was scared of staying and finding out what would happen if he let it. When he scolded her for being weak, he was scolding himself for not being strong enough to protect her. Every time she was pushed away, she knew it was in the hopes that she wouldn't give up. That she would keep trying, to keep him grounded. Sasuke needed someone to love him, but he was scared to accept it.

"You'll never be rid of me."


	15. Her Side of the Story

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Her Side of the Story

Sasuke wished he knew what she saw in him. The time for childhood crushes had long since passed and he'd seen every other of his fangirls move on, but she still stayed. What was so attractive about a broken man with nothing left in his life and nothing to offer her? But still, she had persisted and his resistance was crumbling. He wanted this. He wanted to start anew, but he also wanted to understand. Sakura's mind was an enigma to him, but he knew her well enough to realise that she was sincere.

"Why don't you let me go?"


	16. Indestructible

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Indestructible

Sakura faced a lot of hardship in her life. Not the same type of hardship as her teammates – she'd never had to deal with her family being brutally murdered, among other things – but hardships nonetheless. The boy she loved left her, ignoring her pleas to stay and offers to go with him, never even acknowledging her affections. She was left behind as her friends and teammates found their own paths, never finding hers. Sasuke came back, though, and it was what she had been waiting for as her life finally confirmed the meaning it had awaited.

"I live for you."


	17. Monster

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Monster

Sasuke would never refer to any of his actions as humane. He was not humane; he was someone that abandoned everyone that cared about him, causing deaths left, right and centre. Blinded as he was by hatred and misunderstanding, he never realised what he had until it was gone, never to be salvaged. Even for a shinobi, his life was twisted beyond all comprehension. He didn't regret it, either, until he was once again faced with what he left behind. Sakura reached out to him in joy as they were finally reunited but he recoiled in shame.

"You deserve better."


	18. Dropping Your Guard

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Dropping Your Guard

Sakura thought that in the years she'd had to train as a kunoichi, mastering secret arts that previously belonged only to the clan of her master, that she was ready. She could take on the one thing that haunted her and resolve it once and for all. It required lying, but then, what didn't in the life of a ninja? She brushed off the memory of her lying to her friends. Sasuke stood tall and proud as she tried to kill him, only to fail at the last hurdle as her love for him surged back.

"I can't do it."


	19. Rusty

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Rusty

Sasuke looked at the item in his hands. It was something that he had never expected to hold again, not after the turmoil and many bad decisions in his life. Somewhere, deep in his sub consciousness, he had wished for it again, but hoping had always been futile. Delicate hands closed over his own, ensuring that, for the first time in far too long, he held it again. He looked up at their owner, the person that had returned it to him, disbelievingly. Sakura's eyes were full of joy and he looked back at his headband.

"It's not even dirty."


	20. My Mistake

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

My Mistake

Sakura shuddered, tears falling down her face in waterfalls, but she didn't notice. Her mind had gone into shock as soon as the heartbeat she'd been working so hard to sustain spluttered and stopped, refusing to restart no matter how much she begged it. Hands tried to gently pull her away but she was inconsolable as she clung to the rapidly-cooling body with all of her strength, sobbing into the chest of the deceased. Sasuke had jumped in front of a blow meant for her and she couldn't save him, forced to watch him slip away.

"It's all my fault."


	21. Rewind The Time

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Rewind The Time

Sasuke's life was full of regrets. Ever since he'd made that stupid decision when he was thirteen, influenced by a mark on his neck that looked all too similar to his kekkei genkai, his life had gone downhill. Some people would say that he achieved his goal. His brother was dead and gone, but now knowing the truth that was a regret, too. But not his greatest. Sakura had tried to stop him, all those years ago, with tears in her eyes, and he now wished that he'd let her words convince him.

"I wish I'd stayed here with you."


	22. Exposed

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Exposed

Sakura's ideas of intimacy had changed over the years. Whereas before she thought of it as being purely physical, all the time she had spent in hospitals, undressing patients and helping them to do the most basic of tasks, had taught her that without the emotions to go with it, it was nothing. Baring your body for a person was something you did for numerous reasons, many of them not romantic at all. Sasuke's eyes told her far more than his body or his words. Whenever she looked into them she heard the words he never said.

"Don't leave me."


	23. A Hot Cup of Tea

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

A Hot Cup of Tea

Sasuke had learnt, somewhere along the line, that the small things in life were to be treasured, not passed on as if they were nothing more than an insignificant gesture. He'd probably learnt that when his clan died, and all the little things they did for him stopped. The little things had started up again now, his lovely wife handing him a drink as he came in from a mission in the early hours of the morning. Sakura always did this, and he was grateful as he raised it to his lips and took a sip.

"It's always so warm."


	24. Glory

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Glory

Sakura smiled as the Kages finished their impromptu meeting, wrapped in bandages and struggling to maintain their straight stances under the weight of new scars, ones that would never fade. They congratulated everyone on fighting bravely, and for their unending determination to win. Then the individual praises began. She accepted hers graciously, aware that her efforts had paled in comparison to the boys'. Her blond teammate was predictably loud in his acceptance, unchanged even through the war. Sasuke smirked, but she knew he didn't expect acknowledgment. She reached over to raise his hand as the Hokage spoke again.

"Sasuke Uchiha."


	25. The Other Side of the Wall

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

The Other Side of the Wall

Sasuke paced like a caged lion, ignoring his best friend's comments and snide remarks. The other room was silent, too silent for all the life it was supposed to hold. He wanted to do nothing more than walk in and see with his own eyes that everything was okay. He'd lost his family once before. If he were to lose his new one, he didn't know what he would do. Maybe that was why he wasn't alone. Sakura gasped, a single sound breaking the silence and then the door opened, revealing the midwife and a small bundle.

"It's a boy."


	26. Staying Warm

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Staying Warm

Sakura fumbled with matches, ones that had received a soaking as she'd fallen into a river earlier, to strike equally-damp timber in the hopes of persuading a flame to catch. Smoke curled as the stubborn wood decided to smoulder, but not light. She cursed as her fingers dropped the box, the small sticks spilling everywhere. Numb fingers couldn't retrieve them. Sasuke laughed quietly behind her, a sound she was still getting used to with its pure inflections of mirth, and made a series of hand signs now as familiar to her as they were to him.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu."


	27. Misguided

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Misguided

Sasuke went numb as he listened to the story he was told of the founding village. Images of his brother invaded his mind, but deep inside his mind he could also see a girl with pink hair and tears streaming down her cheeks. She had been willing to do anything for him, much the same way his brother had done, and his fists clenched as he recognised how pure and selfless she had been, while he had seen only the dark. Sakura's phantom hands reached to him in his memories and he wished that they were real.

"I'm going home."


	28. When The Power Fails

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

When The Power Fails

Sakura's heart caught in her mouth as she watched her male companions – her teammates, friends – risk their lives over and over again, sheltering her all the while. It was a sweet gesture, but unnecessary, a fact proven when they were sent flying backwards, wounds spurting blood. She fended off her own opponent, running towards them with healing power already at her fingertips. Sasuke looked up at her with a smile on his face as she healed him, faint but there as he acknowledged her ability to save him with a thanks. She glared at him.

"Let me fight with you."


	29. Tattoo

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Tattoo

Sasuke often rubbed at his neck. The phantom pain of being bitten had never really left him, even after the mark itself had been lifted. He remembered when he got it, in that one encounter in the Forest of Death where he had been convinced he was going to die. He almost did, if the stories of a ten percent success rate were true. The pain had certainly been intense enough to mimic death. Sakura had been there for him, first gripping his hand as he screamed and then there to save him from the darkness it brought.

"Stop it!"


	30. It All Comes Back To This

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

It All Comes Back To This

Sakura didn't believe it when their unexpected reinforcements arrived. Perhaps the genjutsu had already been activated, she just didn't realise it? There was no way that he could be standing there with a small grin on his face as he proclaimed his new dream. The arguments that broke out were just like old times, and she could see she wasn't the only one happy to have him back, regardless of what everyone else said. Sasuke had been sorely missed but he was home at last and that was all that mattered to her joyful heart.

"Let's fight together this time."


	31. Three Wishes

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Naruto_**.**

Three Wishes

Sasuke looked up at the shrine he was visiting, with all the little bits of paper detailing the deepest, darkest thoughts and desires of their flawed race. There was a piece of paper clenched in his fist, too, black ink marring it as he wrote his deepest wish on it. His best friend's was already hanging up, the wish to be Hokage unchanging through the years. Sakura had kept hers secret from him and he had no idea which one of the hundreds hung up was hers, or if she'd even visited yet. His?

"I don't want to be alone."


End file.
